The flower's stem
by thestormwriter123
Summary: Kazuya Lee wandered the world for fifteen years searching for his lost sister. When he finally meets her, he finds that she bears a new name-Orihime Inoue. OC centric. Major/minor deviations from cannon.
1. Reunion

**Ok, so this is my first fanfic. I've been carrying this idea around in my head for a long while, so it's good to finally get it on record. Also, I'll be using ost scenes for this fanfic. The way that works is that I will state the ost name at the beginning of the scene, and if you so choose, you can select the corresponding clip from youtube and play it while reading the scenes. You might find it a bit tiresome, but music really changes the feel of what you're reading. This fiction starts just after the soul society arc of bleach. With that being said...**

 **...oh, I almost forgot:I DO NOT OWN BLEACH.**

1 Reunion

Kazuya Lee stared at the mass of buildings before him. How many times had he done this before? He couldn't remember . That slightly disturbed him, but he was used to that feeling by now. The only thing that he could be even vaguely certain of was how long he had been doing this - fifteen years, give or take a few months. Fifteen years since that disaster ripped apart his family. Still, wallowing in his sorrow was something he left behind a long time ago. Now, the only emotion he could ever remember feeling was determination. Cold, hard, implacable determination. For his task (self set, but none the less important because of it) was still not complete. Jaw set with the stubbornness that everyone that had known him knew , he entered the city. Physically, he wasn't a very imposing structure- brown hair that swept the forefront of his head, black eyes, and a body that looked like it belonged to a 14 year old with a slim build- but his eyes spoke a hardness about him that his looks covered up. This city was different from the others he had visited before. It possessed an unusual amount of the energy that he used to fight those masked creeps. But that didn't really mean anything to him. Then, he felt something...

A curious sense of contentment...

A feeling of warmth in his chest...

And a nervous type of excitement...

What in the world would that mean?

He wanted to think that his goal was close, that the one he had searched for was near but...

He just couldn't bring himself to hope for it...

He continued on through the city, minding it's inhabitants, thought they ignored him, while listening to the monotonous sound of the chains on his chest clanking against each other.

Though it was night time, there were still a few people out and about. However, there weren't any that could see him, as he sometimes found. No matter. That would just make reconnaissance easier.

'Don't think I've seen you around here before.'

A voice cut through Kazuya's mental deliberations. He turned to face the speaker: an orange haired teenager about a year or two older than he himself appeared to be. Unfortunately, he was clothed in a black kimono, with a giant sword attached to his back. Kazuya groaned inwardly.

" _shinigami,_ " he thought.

He had had his first encounter with these soldiers a few years ago. Since then , he had learned to avoid them at all costs. However, this one looked different. Younger. That wasn't just his appearance, but the way he held himself and the lack of seriousness in his eye. It took Kazuya a moment to find his voice after weeks of silence to reply.

'I'm just passing through .'

The teen quirked an eyebrow. 'You don't seem to be too surprised that I can see you.'

'I had that experience a long time ago... and you're not the only one that can see me.'

That explanation didn't really satisfy him, and Kazuya could tell so from his expression. An awkward silence replaced their conversation.

'So, how long have you been travelling? What exactly are you looking for?'

Kazuya started at that question. 'What makes you think I'm looking for something in the first place?'

The teen snorted.' If it wasn't so, then you would have left this world a long time ago. You do realise you're dead, right? That's why you have these chains attached to your chest.'

'Dead, huh...' said Kazuya absentmindedly. ' I figured as much.'

The teen looked at him with something similar to suspicion. 'Just how long have you been travelling? ' he asked again.

Kazuya didn't bother answering. It would only lead to more trouble than he had time for right now.

The man seemed to understand his hesitation. 'Well, be as that may, this is my town, so just let me know if you need anything. The name's Ichigo, by the way. Ichigo Kurosaki. '

'Thank you for the offer, Kurosaki-san. My name is Kazuya Lee. Now if you'll excuse me, I must be going.' With that, Kazuya pushed past the shinigami and continued on his way. " _a little luck for once_ ,"he thought. Usually, meetings with those people didn't end so smoothly, with them trying to send him somewhere he didn't understand. Apparently, this Kurosaki wasn't that type.

Squaring his shoulders, he continued with his search.

Ichigo stared after the receding form of the plus as he walked away." _the most level headed soul I've ever seen_ ", he thought. And it was true. Usually, souls that stayed in the living world for a while became hollows before long. Even before that change, however, the souls were fundamentally different from other living people-their need for friendship or their loneliness ,to name but a few charectars. That was also the reason he just didn't konso pluses upon first sight. Usually, he tried to fulfill their last wishes before sending them to soul society. But this soul wasn't like that. Hell, the only reason he wasn't sleeping right now was because he had been disturbed by a strange reiatsu.

Astoundingly, that had belonged to just a plus. " _.hell?"_ That was just plain weird. It was near impossible for him to comprehend that a mere plus had that much reiryoku. But what truly disturbed him were the eyes. Completely devoid of any emotion but determination. God knew what it was for. If he trusted his instincts, that plus had been in that form for about as long as he had been alive. However, that was ridiculous. Pluses couldn't stay in the world of the living for too long without turning into hollows. But that still didn't explain the pluses strange behaviour. _"ah, whatever_." thought ichigo. He was missing his sleep, and he had class tomorrow. He jumped into a shunpo and made his way home.

Orihime inoue let out a sigh of contentment as she lay down on her mattress in her room for the first time in what seemed like ages. It had just been on that day that she, ichigo, sado, and uryu had returned from the soul society after rescuing rukia. Quite an eventful vacation if she said so herself. Tomorrow, classes would start again. She winced as she imagined tatsuki's expression.

 _'Where were you this vacation orihime?! I was worried sick!'_

Yeah, she would have to think of a good excuse... maybe a trip to a distant relatives marriage? That would have to do, probably.

Well, such thoughts could wait.

Turning onto her side, she promptly fell asleep. She was exhausted, after all.

Only to be startled awake by the scream of a hollow outside her apartment.

 _A few minutes ago_

( play bleach ost: precipice of defeat)

Something was wrong. Kazuya could feel it. That weird sense of contentment that he had felt upon entering the town was still there, and that feeling was now amplified. The part that worried him, however, was the feeling of danger that he had come to associate with the masked creeps. If he trusted his instincts, then an attack was about to happen. But the nervous feeling that he was getting now far eclipsed anything that he had ever felt before. He would have avoided that source of energy usually, but _something_ was holding him back. He just didn't know what that something was.

" _no point in dragging out the inevitable. " ._ With that thought, he began charging up his energy to attract the masked creep, wherever it was. The technique he used always managed to attract them without fail, but if he limited the duration to a very short while, then he would only attract the nearest monsters. Or so he hoped...

Just as he released the energy into the air in a burst, he saw a crack appear in the sky. A huge arm came out of it followed by a _huge_ masked creep. And it was humongous. It was as tall as a skyscraper, with a pure white mask , a pointed nose, a collar of spikes around its neck, and a flowing black cloak(or was it a dress?) that covered the rest of its body. The only thing larger that it right now was Kazuya's growing sense of horror. The creep opened its mouth, steam billowing out , and loosed a hackle raising roar.

" _ **Hollow, hollow, hollow, hollow,..."**_

Ichigo sat bolt upright. Then he groaned. It was midnight, dammit. Couldn't those hollows limit themselves to daylight hours? Well, apparently not. Nonchalantly, ichigo raised his squawking shinigami pass to his chest in preparation to leave his body. Then froze in shock. The reiatsu he was feeling was so large, it could only belong to a menos grande. " _impossible!"_ he thought. The only time a Gillian had set foot before in karakura town was when ishida used his hollow bait, and even then, that had still been unprecedented. For a Gillian to show up now, so randomly...

Something was going on.

And ichigo was going to find out which stupid menos had the nerve to invade his hometown.

Leaving his body, he jumped through the window and made his way towards the errant hollow. To his utter horror, it was just outside orihime's apartment.

Redoubling his speed , he raced onwards.

Kazuya thought he knew fear. Turns out, he didn't know it as well as he felt it right now. His legs were turning to jelly, his knees were on the verge of buckling, and he seemed to be frozen in place. The only thing that kept him from loosing consciousness was the strange feeling that he had. Why was he still feeling that while staring at a monster the size of a building? Was he hallucinating? But one couldn't hallucinate with a feeling. Then was this a side effect of the town?

Possibly.

Then Kazuya dove to the side to avoid the giant creeps foot stomping down on him from above. Cursing, he got to his feet, and started to charge up his energy in his fists and feet. He knew he wouldn't be able to outrun the monster , seeing that it's single stride would cover a football field. He also didn't want to leave the town, at least until he understood what was causing his emotional turmoil. So that left one option.

(End ost scene)

Jumping up high, towards the monsters midsection, he channelled all the excess energy that he could into a single punch. The monster also simultaneously punched at him with its left fist. The two collided with an almost deafening boom.

Kazuya would have thought " _Well, there goes any chance of exiting unnoticed."_

Except he was too busy flying downwards. The masked creeps power was so great that it completely overwhelmed his own and blasted him towards the ground. He landed with a bone shattering smash, and cracked open his eyes just in time to see the giants foot coming down on top of him. There was no way he would be able to dodge that in time. Uselessly crossing his arms over his chest in a lame attempt to protect himself, Kazuya braced for impact.

" _So this is how it ends."_ Fifteen years of searching, just to be crushed under a giants boot. Just before he was smashed flat, a familiar voice shouted out:

'SANTEN KESSHUN!'

Kazuya's blood ran cold just as his face flushed with warmth. He had heard that voice before.

The giants foot crashed into an orange triangle shaped shield. Which, amazingly didn't even crack under the load. The monster stomped a few more times on the shield, producing a deafening racket.

Kazuya didn't hear it.

He was too busy staring at the girl who was standing on the roof of the adjacent apartment, and who was apparently maintaining the shield.

Flowing orange hair, silver eyes, and a beautiful face. Just as he remembered.

' Are you alright?' the girl called down to him.

Kazuya couldn't answer. The realisation of who was standing before him was too much for his brain to process at once.

However, the giant masked creep had no such problems. He whirled toward the girl and started to punch at her. Kazuya suddenly regained controlled of all his faculties. He couldn't allow this girl to be hurt! She was his-

'ONEE-SAN! LOOK OUT!' he screamed , not noticing that the shield above him had vanished.

Just before the giant hit her, the orange shield materialised in front of her, and stopped the monsters punch. Seemingly infuriated, it loosed out a barrage of punches onto the shield. None of which broke through.

The masked creep let out an earth shattering roar, almost pushing Kazuya back.

It then began to form some sort of red energy into a ball in front of its open mouth.

A growing sense of horror dawned on Kazuya as he realised what was about to happen.

Before he even had time to cry out, the red orb exploded toward the girl as a red beam.

The beam hit her shield and stopped, but he heard a sound-that of a glass sheet cracking.

Sure enough, the shield was slowly splintering under the force of the attack. The girl behind it had her arms held toward the shield, but her face was contorted in pain.

Kazuya had no time for words. Jumping to the apartments roof, he ran towards the girl, heart pounding, and pushed her to the side just as the shield broke with the sound of a shattering glass vase. The red beam consumed him, and for a second, his entire body was wracked with pain. It felt like every cell of his body was being burnt to a crisp. Then, as the energy expended itself, he fell to the ground, and his memory ceased.

'NO!' Shouted orihime as the cero enveloped the plus. Why had he done that?!

Before she could contemplate the fact, ichigo appeared out of nowhere and sliced the menos in half with a giant getsuga tensho. With a forlorn wail, the hollow melted into oblivion.

' Orihime! What happened to that plus?'

'He jumped in front of the hollows cero and pushed me out of the way!'

So saying, she knelt in front of the soul and quickly called out her rikka. 'Soten kisshun, I reject! '

An orange dome appeared over the plus and began to heal his burnt skin. The soul had sustained a lot of damage in that last attack, and he was in very bad shape. He needed to be healed, urgently.

'Can you move him while he's being healed?' asked ichigo.

Orihime looked at him and frowned

'Yes, but why-'

' That plus isn't normal. I met him before when he entered town, and...' he trailed off, and his eyebrow creased in concern.

'What happened, kurosaki-kun?'

Now orihime was getting worried too.

Ichigo took a while to answer, and when he did, it wasn't as she had hoped.

' Just take him over to urahara-sans's . He needs to know about this. '

Orihime bit her lip, and spared a worried glance at the plus. He was still unconscious, but the burns on his body were healing. She would have no problem healing him while she moved...

Raising her arms, the Soten kisshun followed her movement, and floated up to mid chest level. She began to move toward the urahara shop, when she realised that ichigo had already disappeared. He must have used a shunpo to get to urahara quickly. Orihime walked at a sedate pace, constantly monitoring the plusses healing. One question, however, kept reverberating through her: why had this soul called her his sister?

Ichigo , as he ended his shunpo, found himself at the door of the urahara shop. Hat'n'clogs really needed to know about that plus . He behaved as if he had been around for a long time, which in itself was unsettling, but what ichigo really wanted to know was why a Gillian had attacked the same day that the soul had entered karakura, when they usually didn't appear in his home town . He didn't really care that it was the middle of the night right now, he just wanted answers. No matter how much of his valuable sleep that he had to sacrifice in order to get them. Walking towards the door, he raised an arm to knock, but the door opened before he could, revealing a yawning ururu.

' Urahara-san is waiting for you in the main room' she said in her usual sad voice.

Ichigo was surprised that she was even awake before remembering that she was probably awakened by the Gillian's reiatsu. The same probably applied for everyone in the urahara shop.

'Thanks, ururu. ' He proceeded to walk towards the main room, where he opened the door to find urahara already seated, and sipping from a glass of green tea.

' Ah, Kurosaki-san. To what do I owe this midnight meeting? '

Ichigo gave him a flat look. He was pretty sure that hat'n'clogs was just messing with him, but it was still annoying.

'A weird plus wandered into town today...' ichigo started. He was sure that urahara knew about the menos attack, so he thought it would be better to start off with the part that urahara wouldn't know about.

' And what did you find so weird about him?'

' He knew that he was dead, for one, and he said that he was just passing through town. It was as if he was in the middle of doing something important. What really bugged me were his mannerisms. He acted like he was used to the idea of being dead and that he had time to get used to it. Do you think that's normal?'

Urahara set his cup down and momentarily assumed an expression of seriousness.

'While that may not be completely ordinary, those facts do not explain why the menos was after him in the first place. That is the only logical conclusion I can arrive at with such limited information- that the Gillian was attracted by him. That the soul must have a high level of reiatsu is a given, but if he had so much, the he would have been swallowed up long ago by a lesser hollow . Which completely contradicts your observation that he has been in the living world for quite a while. And it also presents the problem that in order to attract a Gillian, the souls reiatsu must be ridiculously high, which is something I've never seen before in a plus. To have a more concrete theory, I would have to examine him more closely.'

'Well, he is on his way here...'

' You didn't perform konso on him? '

'There was the fact that he was almost vaporised by a cero, so I decided it would be better for inoue to heal him before sending him to soul society. Speaking of which, they should be here any moment.'

Urahara's serious expression intensified. ' A normal plus would most definitely have been destroyed by a gillian's cero. That fact that he survived means... '

Ichigo didn't like the way that sentence was phrased. 'Means what?'

Urahara shook his head, and uttered three words that ichigo had never heard him say before.

'I don't know.'

Before ichigo could even process the implications of that, the door to the hall opened, and Orihime stepped in, with the soul encased in a dome of orange light following her.

Ichigo spoke first.' Is he healed yet, inoue?'

Orihime shook her head. ' Almost, kurosaki-kun, but not quite.'

'Well then, the best thing to do would be to continue to heal him. Inoue-san, if you don't mind...' Urahara gestured towards a vacant bedroom.

'No, that's fine urahara-san.' Orihime then made her way into the room and settled the plus onto a spare mattress while continuing to heal him.

" _Just who are you? "_ orihime wondered as she placed her hands on the kisshun barrier.

As Kazuya slowly regained consciousness, He expected to feel a whole lot of pain, but instead, he felt nothing but a pleasant warmth. Cracking open his eyes, he saw that he was encased in an orange barrier, and that someone had placed him on a mattress. No wonder he felt warm. Just as he sat up however, the barrier faded, and as he tried to gather his bearings, a voice sounded from beside him.

'Well, good morning. Are you feeling better now?'

Still too scared to accept that what he was hearing was really being spoken and not some figment of his imagination, he slowly turned his head towards the voice.

It was her.

The person he had been searching for fifteen years.

His onee-san.

His sister.

The one he had been separated from so long ago.

Without him even noticing, his eyes filled with tears, which began streaming down his face. ' I finally found you...' he said to her in a quivering voice.

She frowned at him, concerned. 'Are you all right?'

Kazuya jumped up and tackled her with a hug, all the while crying with relief .

'I'll never let you go again, onee-san!' he cried onto her stomach.

Orihime couldn't remember ever being more confused in her life that she was at that point. The words coming from the souls mouth made absolutely no sense to her. However, even she could understand that he was not in a very good emotional state right now. She wouldn't need to ask him what he meant until he calmed down. Stroking his head, she began to console the spirit crying on her.

'Hey , it's alright...'

 **And done! That's it for the first chapter of 'The flower's stem.' Weird title name huh? But I seriously couldn't come up with anything better than that. The next chapter will have a whole lot of exposition, where I try to make all this stuff credible. So stick with the story if you find it interesting and please do review!**

 **Thestormwriter123 signing out!**

 **See ya!**


	2. Revalation

**This chapter ended up being a little later than I expected to upload, because I was busy with my college admission. Sorry! Okay, so on to chapter two. It starts of exactly where chapter one leaves off.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own bleach**

 **2\. Revelation**

Orihime continued to stroke the spirits head, feeling quite flustered as she did so. He didn't appear to be that much younger than her, and while he had stopped crying, he still held on to her tightly. She didn't feel anything wrong with that, but she was starting to get a bit uncomfortable. The whole scenario incongruously reminded her of a child clinging to his mother. Weird. However, it became worse when urahara chose that particular moment to enter.

'Am I interrupting something?' he asked, spreading his fan in front of his face presumably to hide a perverted grin.

Orihime's face flushed red and she had to struggle to find her tongue. 'N-n-not at all, Urahara-san!' she managed.

By then, the plus had let go of her and was staring at urahara. 'Who's this, onee-san?'

Orihime turned to look at the spirit and got a good view of him. Messy brown hair that reached to his black eyes, and a slight physique. It hadn't escaped her that he had called her onee-san again. Usually, it wasn't uncommon for her younger friends to call her onee-san, but when this spirit called her that, she wasn't getting the same vibe. That and the fact that he had cried when he first saw her... something was off.

' Oh?' asked urahara. 'do you know this girl?'

Apparently, he was addressing the plus.

The spirit turned his eyes on urahara. 'Considering the fact that she is my elder sister, yes, I do know her.'

Orihime's eyes widened and she looked at the plus in astonishment. " _Elder sister?!"_ she thought incredulously.

However, she didn't get the chance to reply, as then ichigo entered as well. He took one look at the soul and said, 'Was she the one you were searching for?'

'Yes.'

Now orihime's head was starting to spin. Noting her evident discomfort, urahara knelt down next to the spirit and said,' I think you have the wrong person.'

The soul looked at him in annoyance and was about to say something, but urahara waved a hand and cut him off. 'If you do know her, then can you tell us her name?'

The plus was now visibly trying to control his temper. 'Her name is Kazumi Lee. And I know that because-'

'That's not my name.' Orihime interjected, finally finding her tongue. 'It's orihime inoue.'

The plus looked at her, confused. 'Onee-san, what-'

'And why do you keep calling me that?'

The plus gave her a look of dismay, and was about to answer, when urahara cut him off again. 'I think it would be best if you would explain the situation to us. If you do, perhaps I can give you an explanation of what's going on.'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kazuya hated the world right now. To be so cruel as to show him the exact likeness of his sister, only to find out that she was someone else entirely ,and that too after searching for so long ... it was enough to make anyone's blood boil. Of course, he couldn't blame these people for that. The girl-orihime- who bore the perfect resemblance to his sister, was the one that had healed him. So he owed her a debt of gratitude. The shinigami too-ichigo- had his trust, or at least a benefit of doubt. He was the only shinigami to ever offer him help with _anything_ and he also seemed to be an honest soul. He had absolutely no idea who the man in the green coat with the cane and mysterious hat was, but he was apparently on good terms with the other two, so that was good enough for him. He would tell them his story, and then continue on his way. With or without their approval.

They were all seated around a low table, with a cup of steaming tea in front of each of them. The man in the green coat was the only one who had touched his, however. The rest of them remained as such. 'Let me apologise for my earlier behaviour, Inoue-san. That was very presumptuous of me and-'

'Oh, don't worry about that! I don't mind at all!' she responded with a bright smile.

Kazuya's mood soured further. Not only was this girl the splitting image of his sister, she also had the same mannerisms. Addressing the man in green, Kazuya said 'Well, what about me do you want to know?

'Start from the last moment you have memory of when you were still alive'.

" _My last living memory, huh..."_ thought Kazuya. He had replayed that last, fatal accident almost too many times to count in his mind to see what he could have done better, so recalling that incident was no problem but...

'I can recall a particular incident, but I don't remember the information leading up to it. So what I can tell you will be incomplete.'

The man took another sip of tea and said, 'That's fine. Whatever you remember ought to be enough.'

Kazuya took a moment to compose himself , and began his tale.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Flashback_

 _Kazuya was sitting in a car. He didn't remember where they were going or where they were returning from , but he knew they were in a car, along with his sister, Kazumi Lee, sitting beside him in the rear seat, and their parents, Isao and Kaiya Lee ,in the front. The mood in the car was light, with his father just having cracked a funny joke. What was it? Kazuya couldn't remember. He hoped it was a funny one, though. That would be the last time he would laugh in years._

 _This was his world. These were the people he loved the most. And he would have rather died than be separated from them... funny how fate could be so warped._

 _And then..._

 _Suddenly, the air around them grew oppressive and heavy. Even before anyone could comment on the change, Isao went rigid and then slumped in his seat. Which, unfortunately, was the driver's._

' _Oto-san! What's wrong?!' cried out Kazumi._

 _He didn't answer. The car began drifting off course, and towards the loose dirt alongside the road. Kaiya reached out for the steering wheel before she too went limp._

' _Onee-san! What's going on?!' shouted Kazuya fearfully._

' _I don't know! Hold on, kazu-kun, I'll try to get to get to the wheel!' Kazumi replied as she undid her seat belt and tried to work her way towards the drivers seat. Just as she reached the steering wheel and stepped on the brakes, however, the car slipped off the road an onto the soil. The worst possible moment to hit the brakes. Kazuya was thrown forward and his head hit the back of the drivers seat. But the real bad news was that his father's comatose hand jerked up as a result of the brakes, and slightly jolted the steering wheel. Less than a second of contact. But the damage had been done._

 _The slight realignment of the wheels was all the car needed to turn it's front half sideways, and start to skid on the soil. That alone wouldn't have been so dangerous, but combined with the retarding force of the brakes, the torque was enough to send the car into a deadly cartwheel. Tossing everyone inside like leaves in a whirlwind._

 _Kazuya, still being strapped to his seat, escaped the worst it._

 _Kazumi was not so lucky._

 _Despite holding on to the steering wheel with all her strength, her grip gave out before long and she was sent crashing into the side of the car. Or was it the roof? It was difficult to say because of the spinning. But before Kazuya even had time to cry out, everything went black._

 _The next thing he noticed-amid extreme disorientation- was a faint voice crying out , but he couldn't make our what exactly was being said..._

 _Picking himself up, he found that he was somehow outside the car, which had crashed sideways into a tree, almost obliterating the passenger seats. As he regained his bearings, the voice crying out resolved into his sister's._

' _HELP ME, KAZU-KUN!'_

 _Kazuya looked towards her voice to see her desperately holding on to the tree, with a chain extending from her chest trailing off towards the western horizon._

' _Onee-san! Hold on!' Kazuya ran towards her, but just as he reached her, his sisters grip gave out and she was pulled away by the chain attached to her chest. Desperately lunging for her hand, Kazuya dove forward._

 _And missed grabbing her by a mere centimetre._

' _ONEE-SAAAAAAN!' Kazuya cried out as his sister rapidly faded from view._

' _Damn it, I lost a meal!' a deep, rasping voice cursed behind him_

 _Kazuya whirled around to face the speaker, only to recoil from the monster before him._

 _A huge form towered before him, with a pale white mask in the shape of a frog skull. He, no_ it, _possessed lanky arms in contrast to its thick fists, and stood upon stout, slightly short legs atop webbed feet. Of course, these observations were all secondary to the fear he felt._

' _No matter, the main course still awaits.' The monster said again with a gruesome cackle._

 _Forcing his head away from the creature in front of him, Kazuya looked around. His parents were nowhere to be found._

' _If you're looking for your parents, they're gone. I ate them.'_

 _Kazuya stared at the monsters perversely grinning mask with horror. 'What did you do to my sister?!'_

 _The monster, which had begun stomping towards him, paused. 'That's your reaction to your parents death? Either an excellent brother or a horrible son.'_

' _Don't mess with me! What did you do to her?!'_

' _I don't know. Cheated me out of a meal too.'_

 _Kazuya's concern for his sister outweighed his fear. 'Tell me the truth, you monster!'_

 _The creep stepped forward, grabbed Kazuya in one of his large hands, and brought him close to its face._

' _Don't you understand speech? I thought I was the monster here. I said I don't know. '_

 _Kazuya struggled against the monsters tightening fist and spluttered, 'T-tell m-me or I'll ķ-kill you...'_

 _The masked creep threw back his head and laughed._

' _A plus threatening a hollow! Isn't that just grand!' The monster drew Kazuya so close that mere inches separated his face from its. 'Do you really want to Know?' Without waiting for a reply, it continued. 'I sent your sister to hell.'_

 _Kazuya temporarily stopped writhing in the monsters fist._

' _I killed and ate your parents, I sent your sister to hell and now you're next! And there's nothing you can do about it! Your soul will provide me with enough reiatsu to become an adjuchas!'_

 _Kazuya had absolutely no idea what this creep was going on about._

 _Except the fact that it had killed his entire family, and sent his sister to hell._

 _And he would soon be following suit._

 _An explosion of some sort of forced the monsters hand open, and Kazuya dropped to the ground, surrounded by some sort of constantly fluctuating aura. Keeping his gaze angled downwards, where it was hidden by his untidy brown hair, he mumbled a few unintelligible words._

' _This is magnificent! This power will be enough to transform me into a vasto lorde, and nothing less!' saying so, the monster lunged toward Kazuya with his mouth stretched wide open._

 _Kazuya stood his ground, still engulfed in the weird power. Which began to flow to his fists and feet._

 _As the monster approached, ready to swallow him up, Kazuya jumped up high, higher than he had ever jumped before. Not that that observation occurred to him at that time. Hell, he didn't even feel the fear he was supposed to in the face of almost certain death. The only emotion he was experiencing now was rage. His parents were dead, eaten by this monster. His sister was dead, and apparently on her way to hell. His self-concern and survival instinct had been completely overwhelmed by his anger. He no longer cared if he died, as long as this monster went down with him._

' _I'LL KILL YOU , YOU BASTARD!'_

 _As he came down towards the creep, he punched it in the back with all the strength he could summon._

' _GAAAAHHH!' it cried out in pain as it's chest collided with the ground and produced an impact crater. But Kazuya wasn't done just yet._

 _Catching ahold of one of the monsters feet, he proceeded to continually smash the creep into the ground. In the back of his mind, he wondered where he was getting this strength, but for the most part , his brain had room for nothing at the moment but his rage._

 _Suddenly, just as he was about to let go of the monsters foot, it turned upon itself and punched at Kazuya. Being surprised, he jumped away from the huge fist, but because of the monsters long arm, he couldn't completely dodge the blow, and caught thee edge of the monsters fist. He was able to get his arm up to block-his fist still surrounded by that weird light-but he was sent skidding back by the force of the blow. When he looked up again, he saw the monster, it's pale mask partially cracked, with its body bruised all over. Despite all this it was still chuckling softly._

' _Looks like I bit off more than I could chew. Who knew a plus that could control it's reiatsu even existed? '_

' _What the hell are you going on about?!' at this point, Kazuya's rage was tapering off and the fear and despair were rushing back to him._

 _The monster smirked with what was visible of its face underneath it's mask .'You haven't seen the last of me, I swear. Next time your soul is_ mine _, do you hear?' and with that the monster faded into a black, shadowy portal that appeared behind him._

 _Kazuya collapsed. He couldn't even lift up his head to look around. Nor did he want to. The true horror of the situation was finally catching up to him. His entire family was gone. His parents had been devoured by a monster. His sister was gone, on the way to hell if that monster was to be believed. What was he supposed to do now? Kazuya blacked out, his last sensation being the torrent of tears running down his face._

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 _Kazuya was startled awake by a creaking sound. Looking towards it, he saw the remnants of some sort of wreck. A wrecked car that looked exceedingly familiar. Wait, that was the remains of the car his family had owned! Kazuya scrambled to his feet, remembering all the events of the past hour. His heart thumping in his chest, he stumbled towards the car. Cautiously, he peered into a side window._

 _Only to scream in terror and fall backwards as he beheld a truly horrifying scene._

 _An exact likeness of his head-just his head- was staring back at him vacantly. The heads body was nowhere to be seen, presumably crushed in the collision._

 _As he fell backwards, he headed a sound of clanking chains below him. Looking down, he saw that a chain was attached to his chest. Grasping it, he tried to pull it off only to scream in pain as a spasm wracked his body. It had felt as if he had just been set on fire, the doused with ice cold water. He would not be trying that again anytime soon._

 _Remembering the original reason he fell, Kazuya steeled himself, and peered back into the car, steadfastly avoiding looking at his head._

 _The front of the car was relatively undamaged, and when he looked through the front window, he saw his parents._

 _As corpses._

 _The sight would have been enough to drive him insane, if he wasn't already._

 _Perhaps this was all just a hallucination, or maybe he was having a nightmare._

 _Maybe._

 _Or maybe this was all real and his entire family , including himself ,was dead. And he was apparently the only one who became a spirit. Not wanting to see the shattered remains of his sister, Kazuya blindly began stumbling away, not even noticing where he was going. Nor did he care where his wanderings took him, as long as it was away from the nightmare that his existence had become._

'I ate your parents and I sent your sister to hell.'

 _The monsters voice continued to reverberate through Kazuya's mind. How had such a monster been able to completely negate all their time together?_

' I ate your parents and I sent your sister to hell. '

 _Why could such a monster be able to control who went to heaven and who went to hell?_

' I ate your parents and I sent your sister to hell. '

 _What if... what if it had been lying?_

 _Kazuya had absolutely no idea where his parents went. But his sister..._

'HELP ME, KAZU-KUN!'

 _The remembrance of his sisters voice caused Kazuya to shudder with shame and self loathing. The one time she called out to him, he couldn't help her._

 _Or could he...?_

 _Kazuya looked down and took stock of his direction, to find that he had unconsciously travelling in the direction his sister had been pulled away._

 _If the monster had actually been lying, if there was even the slightest chance he could find her..._

 _Kazuya shook his head, and turned toward the west. The monster had been lying. He chose to believe so to protect his sanity. This was the direction in which his sister disappeared. This was the direction where he would find her, if he travelled long enough._

 _Squaring his shoulders, he began his long journey._

 _He would find her. That was now his sole aim in life. Or rather, in death._

 _End Flashback_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

'And so I travelled West. A few more masked creeps attacked me on the way, apparently having been tipped off by the frog headed one, but they weren't more than what I could handle. The monster I saw yesterday was the largest one I had ever seen.'

Kazuya looked across the table at the shinigami and the two humans.

'My sister looked just like you, Inoue-san. That's why I mistook you for her.'

Orihime had dropped her eyes to the table. The plus had the most amazing story to tell, and it disturbed her quite a bit. She was able to comprehend fully the loss of a loved one- sometimes she still felt the loss of her brother sora even after such a long time- but that wasn't the worst of it. To travel for so long, and find someone exactly identical to the one you were looking for... her heart went out to the poor soul.

She looked towards ichigo, who had his signature scowl in place, but with twice the usual intensity. She couldn't blame him, though.

'What do you intend to do now?' ichigo was the one that asked the question.

'Continue my search.'

Urahara, who had been silent for so long, looked at Kazuya with a contemplative direction.

'Kazuya-san, can you find any differences between your sisters appearance and orihime's?'

'What are you getting at, hat'n'clogs?' ichigo asked with an annoyed expression on his face.

'Just humour me.'

Kazuya looked at Orihime again, comparing her, she was sure, to his sister Kazumi. After a while, he replied, 'There's actually no difference. She even wore her hair the same way, but the pins she used were different.'

Urahara's contemplative expression hardened.'Do you remember the exact date of your accident?'

Kazuya frowned. 'It was in September, and I'm pretty sure the month had just started, but I can't really remember the date...'

'And you said this incident occurred fifteen years ago?'

'Yes. Why?'

Kazuya didn't seem to be making any connection, but Orihime couldn't help but notice that her birthday was also in the beginning of September-the third of September to be exact- and that she was fifteen years old. That couldn't be more than a coincidence, however...

Urahara sighed. ' If you so wish, I explain to you exactly what happened to your family on that day.'

Kazuya's eyes widened. 'Please do.'

Urahara's paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts, then began.

'The reason that your parents went limp just before the accident was because the hollow - that's the name we use for what you called _masked creeps-_ knocked your parents souls outside their bodies, and then presumably ate them. Usually hollows don't consume living souls, but I believe that it was attracted by your extremely high reiatsu.'

Kazuya was unimpressed. 'I guessed that much myself. And what's reiatsu?'

'Reiatsu-spiritual pressure- is an effect of reiryoku-spirit energy- which is the _weird energy_ that you used to fight the hollows. And I assume that you also guessed that the hollow was lying when he said he sent your sister to hell.'

Kazuya nodded.

'Wait, what happened to his sister, then? ' it was ichigo who interrupted this time. 'Why was her chain of fate so long, and why did it pull her somewhere else?'

'That's what I want to know as well. 'Kazuya said.

'Hold your horses, I'm getting there.' said urahara.

Looking at Kazuya, urahara stated, 'Because you don't have any knowledge of how souls move to the afterlife, I'll give you a simple explanation. So usually, when a person dies, there soul is left behind. It takes the same appearance as the person, except that it has a chain attached to its chest, called the chain of fate. The soul is now called a plus. '

Kazuya glanced down at his chest, and then Looked back At Urahara. 'Okay...'

Urahara continued. 'Now usually, a plus can't stay in the world of the living for long. So either a shinigami comes along and performs a soul burial- a konso- and sends the plus to the afterlife, or the plus transforms into a hollow.'

Kazuya frowned. 'Then why didn't I turn into a hollow? Fifteen years is quite a long time to stay as a plus, isn't it?'

Orihime redoubled her attention, and saw ichigo do the same. _This_ was the question they wanted an answer to.

'When a plus transforms into a hollow, there are usually some factors that act as catalysts. These factors can be anything from a feeling of resentment of the living, or something tying down the soul to a particular place, or another hollow- or more typically a group of hollows- forcing a plus to undergo the change. In your case, none of these factors were present. Not only that, but the only thing keeping you tied to this world was the desire to find your sister. Which isn't a feeling of resentment. With enough determination, such a soul can greatly delay it's hollowfication , though this is the first time I've actually seen it happen.'

Orihime was starstruck. Determination powerful enough to resist a natural phenomenon? And that too for over a decade? A glance at ichigo told her that he shared her amazement at the soul's fortitude.

Kazuya, however, was still frowning. 'That still doesn't explain what happened to my sister '

'That's because I haven't finished explaining yet. Now, once a soul reaches the afterlife, or soul society, as we call it, they then have three options. One, they can remain a spirit for the rest of their existence, two, if they have a high enough reiryoku, they can apply to become a shinigami by enrolling at the Academy of Spiritual Arts, and three, they can choose to be reborn. Now, rebirth is a complicated phenomenon, and even we shinigami don't understand it fully.'

'Wait, you're a shinigami?!' exclaimed Kazuya. 'But then-'

'Appearances can be deceiving.'Urahara told him mysteriously, winking at him from beneath his hat. 'Now, where was I...? Ah, yes, rebirth. Now when a spirit in the soul society is reborn, the process is usually spontaneous and uncontrollable. The soul is reborn, and it is impossible to trace it's path of rebirth. However, there _is_ a ,method by which plusses in the world of the living can be reborn. Instantaneous reincarnation.'

'Instantaneous reincarnation? ' Kazuya echoed.

'The soul, just as soon as it has its chain of fate severed from its body, resonates with another human body just before it is born. The chain of fate instantly elongates and attaches itself to the new born body, and in essence, is reborn. For instantaneous reincarnation to work, the newborn's body must share a high degree of similarity with the plusses earlier appearance, and once the chain of fate is reattached, the two become indistinguishable.'

Urahara looked directly at Kazuya. 'I'm sure you've already noticed that orihime possesses all the qualities that your late sister Kazumi did. That's because, in essence, they are the same person.'

Orihime looked at Urahara in shock. 'But, Urahara-san, -'

'You mean she really is my sister?' Kazuya interrupted hopefully, staring at her.

No, that couldn't be possible! Orihime had absolutely no memory of anything that this plus had said! While she couldn't deny that she felt sorry for his fate and that she felt slightly attached to him, she was pretty sure that this soul was not her sibling.

'I wasn't finished yet,' continued urahara. He gave Kazuya a look of pity. 'During instantaneous reincarnation, the souls memory is completely wiped clean. She has no memory of you, or your previous life together. While she possessed the same soul that Kazumi Lee did, she is now Orihime Inoue , and the two are not the same.'

Kazuya's gaze shifted to despair. ' No, that can't be true! You still remember me, don't you onee-san?!'

Orihime couldn't meet his eyes. She knew she wouldn't completely be able to mask her doubt and confusion, and she didn't want to add to this boys misery, so she refused to make eye contact.

Kazuya remained silent for quite a long time. When he finally spoke, it was in a completely controlled and emotionless voice.

'I understand the situation now. Thank you for healing me, Inoue-san, thank you for not trying to immediately send me to soul society, Kurosaki-san, and thank you for explaining things to me, Urahara-san. I shall not trouble you further.'

With that, he stood, bowed to them, and turned to leave.

Orihime couldn't bear the thought of his sadness crushing him alone, so she tried to call out to him. He might not have been her brother, but sora wouldn't want her to turn away such a sad soul.

'Kazuya-san-' she started, but stopped when he immediately froze in place and looked down.

When he looked at her again, his eyes were filled with tears, though he refused to let them fall. He spoke to her,in a strained, tortured voice.

(Play bleach ost: requiem for the lost ones)

'That's the first time those lips have ever uttered my name so formally.'

His tears beginning to spill out, he turned and ran away from them, and out of the shop.

Urahara called out to him, and tried to stop him, but he was too slow.

'This is not good.' Her stated gravely.

'What isn't, Urahara-san? ' Ichigo found his voice before orihime did.

'The fact that he ran away.' Without giving either of them an opportunity to voice their confusion, urahara explained himself. 'While all plusses make good meals for hollows, the stronger the reishi , the more hollows are attracted. But that isn't the only way plusses attract hollows. When a spirit looses it's sense of self preservation, and becomes uninterested in existing any longer, it's like a flare for all nearby hollows: " _please come and eat me, I'm tired of existing."_ Add in Kazuya's high reiatsu, and the effect is almost equivalent to that of a hollow bait being deployed.'

Orihime's eyes widened. She remembered the time that seemed so long ago when uryu had used his hollow bait to challenge ichigo to a fight. If that was what was happening now...

She immediately noticed ichigo releasing zangetsu from its cloth wrappings, and beginning to exit the shop as well.

' Kurosaki-kun? ' she asked him inquisitivly

Ichigo looked back at her, then at urahara. 'Urahara-san, if you could alert ishida and Chad, that would be helpful.'

'Alright, Kurosaki-san , but where are you going?'

Ichigo looked out of the doorway that Kazuya had ran through a while ago.

'I'm going to find that plus and knock him back to his senses.', he said, giving her a rare grin.

With that, he vanished in a shunpo.

Orihime sighed. 'I should have been a little more gentle with him.'

'Oh? 'asked urahara. 'I don't recall you saying anything particularly jarring to him. '

'No, but...'

'Leave it, Inoue-san. Your reaction to his story was completely normal. Anyone else would have done the same. Actually, others would have reacted even before you did.'

'But I'm not just anyone else to him. He expected me to behave as his sister would have.'

Urahara cocked an eyebrow. 'And you were fine with that?'

Orihime blushed slightly. 'I can't really explain it. While I still don't have any memory of him, and what he said made no sense to me, I just don't like seeing him sad. It doesn't make much sense to me either.'

And it really didn't. Why in the world would she feel like that about someone that she had met just a few hours ago? Sure, her personality was a caring one, but that only went so far...

Outside, a the sky darkened slightly, and a collective wail of hollows filled the air.

'Well, that would be my cue!' Urahara said, overly cheerful. 'Guess I'd better alert Uryu and Sado, then.' Looking towards her, he continued. 'Inoue-san, please remain here. It will be easier to locate you if someone requires healing.'

Though she didn't like being left behind, orihime couldn't find any fault with his argument, so she -reluctantly- acquiesced. 'That's fine, Urahara-san.'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kazuya stumbled forward, barely noticing the commotion around him. Apparently, the sky had started raining masked creeps- or _hollows_ – as urahara had called them. But he couldn't possibly care less about his surroundings now.

His sister did not exist anymore.

He had spent the last fifteen years searching for nothing.

During the past, whenever he got depressed with his search, he usually cheered himself up by imagining his sisters voice, and all her previous words and advice to him.

' _Don't be sad, kazu-kun. Your face looks a lot cuter when you smile!'_

'I couldn't smile right now even to save a life, onee-san.'

' _Even if we can't see each other for a while, it's not the end. We can always meet later,'_

'No, we can't. You don't exist anymore, onee-san.'

' _I'll always be there for you, kazu-kun. You can count on me.'_

Kazuya didn't even bother replying to that voice. He didn't even care that he was talking to himself at the moment. He just kept running away from the despair his existence had fallen into.

A hollow suddenly appeared above him, jaws open wide to swallow him whole. Then it was shredded by what seemed to be a stream of blue light. A raven haired teenager holding a light blue bow was standing on the roof above him.

'Are you alright? Don't move, these hollows are everywhere! '

Kazuya kept running, hearing the man curse as another onslaught of hollows reached him.

An explosion of light occurred to Kazuya's left, and he saw another brown haired teenager with a weird right arm punching through the hollows like they were statues.

He paid it no mind.

In other circumstances, he would have wondered how on earth these spiritually aware people were all present in the same town, but right now, he was just crushed by his despair.

Strangely, he wouldn't have felt this bad if he hadn't found her. He would have been a bit depressed, maybe, but not on this level. The fact that his sister no longer remembered him, or rather, the fact that his sister was someone else entirely... that was what killed him the most. Fifteen years spent chasing an illusion. No, not an illusion.

Fifteen years spent chasing someone that didn't exist anymore.

' _Why?'_ thought Kazuya despairingly.

Just then, his legs gave way beneath him, and he collapsed to the ground in a heap. Lacking the will to even get up, he remained in that position, with his face planted on the ground.

For quite a while.

After a few minutes ( or was it hours? Kazuya had completely lost track of time) he heard the roar of a hollow right above him. Raising his head, he caught view of an enormous hollow rushing towards him, mouth opened wide. At this point he didn't have the strength to get up and run any further.

Nor did he particularly want to escape anymore.

He didn't even close his eyes in the face of his death.

'GETSUGA TENSHO!'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 _A few minutes ago_

Ichigo was currently jumping through karakura town, looking for the lost soul. Any hollows that got in his way, he cut down, but the rest he left to Ishida and Chad. The number of hollows wasn't as large as when ishida had used his hollow bait, but there were still monsters swarming the town in hundreds.

Nothing more than what his friends could normally handle.

He, on the other hand, was busy chasing down Kazuya. He had heard what hat'n'clogs had said about loosing his drive for existence, and ichigo had to find him before a hollow did. If a hollow was able to eat him, then his high Spiritual Power would strengthen the hollow many times, and he couldn't let that happen.

The consequences would be too dangerous.

Just as he began to get Kazuya back in his sights, a garganta opened up straight above him, and a giant, insectoid hollow emerged from it.

' _Damn it!'_ ichigo mentally cursed. He was too far away to reach Kazuya before the hollow would have swallowed him up, so he swung zangetsu just as the hollow reached the soul.

'GETSUGA TENSHO!'

A white blade of condensed reiatsu completely sliced the hollow in half, and it faded to oblivion without so much as a sound. Rushing towards Kazuya, ichigo healed him back to his feet, and gave him a once over. He didn't seem to be hurt.

Then he made eye contact.

Kazuya's black orbs were completely emotionless, and they stared back at him as if he didn't exist. He seemed to be looking at the horizon instead of at ichigo.

'Why did you stop him?'

Ichigo resisted the urge to smack the soul with his blade.

'Because he was going to eat you, you moron!'

'Did you think I didn't want to be eaten? That was the reason I didn't run from it in the first place.' The sentence was uttered without even a hint of any emotion, be it sadness, despair, or anything else.

This time ichigo really did smack the plus upside the head.

'Why are you so eager to die?! Just because your sister didn't recognise you-'

Kazuya finally cracked.

'MY SISTER IS GONE! She doesn't exist anymore! I spent the greater portion of my existence searching for her, only to find that she doesn't even remember her little brother! I should have been eaten alongside my parents all those years ago. It would have saved a whole lot of trouble. And when I try to end my existence to escape this nightmare, you just won't let me! Damn you shinigami! How the hell can you know what I'm going through right now!? Stop acting as if you understand me- you don't. ' Kazuya fell to the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks.

'I may not know exactly what you're feeling right now, but I can imagine the pain you're going through-'

'How?! How can a shinigami who doesn't care one whit for the souls he buries after they reach the afterlife even comprehend-'

'Because I'm not just a shinigami, dammit! I also happen to be a high school student with two younger sisters and a father. They are my world, too. That's why I said I understand –'

'And what would you do if your sisters just forgot you one fine day, hmm? '

'Ichigo knelt down beside Kazuya and put an arm on his shoulder. 'I would reach out to them and try to make them remember me. I certainly wouldn't go about trying to end my own life out of despair.'

Kazuya groaned. 'But her memories were completely wiped clean. There's no way my sister can even recognise me, let alone remember me.'

'Says who? Just cause you heard something from someone you hadn't even known before today, you lost the determination you had for over fifteen years?'

'It's worse than that. I saw Inoue-san react to my words. She really doesn't remember me, and she-'

'Memories aren't the only thing tying souls together.'

Kazuya looked at him, confused. 'What? '

'You heard me. In your previous life, you and your sister Kazumi had a really close bond, right?'

Kazuya nodded reluctantly. 'I was closer to her than I was to my parents.'

'Well, then, use that bond. A bond once forged between two souls will never fade, especially if it is constantly remembered and cherished. Inoue may not remember you now, but what's to say that she's forgotten your bond as well?'

Ichigo stood up and walked a few feet away from the spirit. 'As long as you can remind her of that bond, while she may not be able to remember you, you'll still be able to cherish that connection with her. That's just what her personality is. '

(End ost scene)

Her turned around to see Kazuya slowly wiping his tears. 'Are you sure your a shinigami? The other ones I've seen are nothing like you.'

Ichigo grinned at him. 'I'm not just any shinigami. Substitute soul reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki at your service.'

Kazuya stood up shakily, and smiled at him slightly. 'Thank you for the help, Kurosaki-san- '

'Call me ichigo.'

Kazuya's smile widened. 'Well, then, thank you ichigo. It seems like I owe you quite a debt of gratitude.'

Ichigo was just about to tell him not to mention it, when another garganta opened just behind Kazuya. He was barely able to shout out a warning to him and unsheath zangetsu as the white mask of a hollow emerged from the darkness.

Kazuya extended a reishi enhanced fist and smashed in its mask with a backhanded blow, with his back still turned as the hollow wailed in pain and retreated back into the shadowy gate.

'Seems like your back to normal.' commented ichigo lightly.

'Thanks to you , yes I am. If it's not too much trouble though, could I ask a favour from you before you send me off to soul society?'

Ichigo smirked at him. 'I have a feeling I already know what it is.'

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Orihime kept fidgeting as she waited for ichigo to return. The hollows had all been defeated, and Uryu and Sado had suffered negligible injuries. As such, she had finished healing the, quite a while ago. Now, they were all in the urahara shop, waiting for ichigo to come back. His tardiness was starting to worry her.

'Don't worry about Kurosaki, inoue- san. He can take care of himself.' Reassured uryu, sado silently nodding in agreement.

'I know that. I'm not just worried about him, though. There was this plus-'

'Oh, everyone's here? Did we really take that long to return?' the voice was ichigo's.

Turning towards the sound, orihime saw that ichigo had arrived, and that the plus was with him now, looking much better than he had just a while ago as he had left. She still felt a little guilty for his fate, even if it wasn't her fault.

'Kazuya-san, I'm sorry-'she began, but was cut off by him.

'It's really weird having someone who used to be my sister keep calling me kazuya _-san_ all the time.' However, he said this with the hint of a smile, so she knew he wasn't really upset.

'Kazuya is fine. Or Kazuya-kun would be more preferable.' he continued.

Orihime smiled at him, happy that he had gotten over his sadness. 'Alright, then, Kazuya-kun. '

Kazuya forged on. 'I know it's a lot to ask, but could I continue to call you onee-san? I can't really think of you as anyone but my sister. '

'Don't call me onee-san, Kazuya-kun.' he began to frown, but she continued ,'I think onee-chan would be just fine.' She gave him a bright smile, which he mirrored.

'Well then, I guess your ready to go , Kazuya.' ichigo said.

Kazuya turned to him. 'Thank you for everything, ichigo. And yes, I'm ready to go. See you around , onee-sa-i mean, onee-chan.'he gave her one last smile before ichigo hit the center of his forehead with the hilt of his zanpakuto. Kazuya started to glow, and slowly faded out of reality.

'See you, Kazuya-kun. 'Orihime replied to the departed spirit, as a newly formed hell butterfly fluttered out the window.

'What just happened here? ' Uryu interjected with a severely confused expression, which was mirrored by sado, albeit to a lesser degree.

'Inoue just found a long lost relative.'Ichigo answered.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

 **End chapter two! Okay so, this one was a bit longer than I expected, but I had to include it all for the story to make sense. Speaking of which, I hope the explanations that I came up with for Kazuya's back story weren't too BS. On another note, I'm about to start college, so updates will become a lot less frequent , for which I apologise in advance.**

 **A special thanks to all those who favorited and/or followed my story.**

 **An even more special Thanks To monsuno Power, For The Review. Thanks for the compliment!**

 **So, follow the story if you like it, and please do review!**

 **Thestormwriter123 signing out!**

 **See ya!**

o


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